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​1982 Alumni Achievement Awards

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Joseph W. GlobigBSEE'39Alumni Achievement Award

Joseph W. Globig is an inventor, engineer, and businessman of extraordinary success. He established his own firm, General Designs, Inc., in Sun Valley, California, in 1957 and has been involved in electro-mechanical design for the aerospace industry since. He is personally responsible for design of numerous gyroscopes, electric actuators and other high-reliability units of aircraft, missiles and satellites. Mr Globig still serves as president and chief executive officer of General Designs.

Immediately after graduation he joined the General Electric Test Program. Eight years later he assumed the presidency of a number of Los Angeles area aerospace companies that he headed. In addition, he was vice president for engineering of Whittaker Corporation.

Additionally, Mr. Globig continually serves as a leader and fund raiser for community organizations including little league, the YMCA, United Fund, and two hospitals. He also was president of the Los Angeles area alumni council for Washington University. He was chairman of the board of Goodwill Industries of Southern California, the largest in the country, and is a member of Rotary International.

Kendall PerkinsBSEE'28Alumni Achievement Award

Kendall Perkins was a leader of aviation engineering for nearly 50 years. He retired after some 30 years as chief of engineering for McDonnell Douglas Corporation. During that time, he and his team designed and produced McDonnell's many military and commercial aircraft and three U.S. spacecraft.

Graduating from the School of Engineering in 1928, he joined Curtiss-Robertson Airplane Manufacturing Company, a division of Curtiss-Wright. For a decade, Mr. Perkins was project engineer for its half-dozen St. Louis-produced aircraft. In 1941, Perkins began an association with the newly established McDonnell Aircraft Co. that spanned four decades. In the 1950s his yearlong study of manned spacecraft culminated in McDonnell's contract with NASA to produce the Mercury capsule that carried the first Americans into earth orbit. He became Engineering Vice President in 1951 and Corporate Vice President of Engineering and Research in 1967.

Mr. Perkins is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He served for many years a s a Washington University trustee.

William K. Y. TaoMSMS'50Alumni Achievement Award

Respect for education, embedded by William K.Y. Tao's upbringing in China, remains a key element in his personal philosophy. His countless contributions to Washington University reflect this philosophy. One of Mr. Tao's most far-reaching ideas has had an immense impact: the annual named scholarship program. The School of Engineering established the first program in 1974; today all the University's schools have named scholarship programs.

Mr. Tao came to Washington University after earning bachelor's degrees in mechanical and electrical engineering at two Chinese universities. After receiving his Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 1950, he became a full-time instructor at the School of Engineering. He continued as an affiliate professor after starting his own engineering consulting business, William Tao & Associates, Inc., in 1956. Since 1965, he has also been an affiliate professor at the School of Architecture.

Recognized internationally as a leader in engineering systems design, Mr. Tao is responsible for many innovative, energy-effective concepts and applications. Although officially retired, Mr. Tao continues to serve as management advisor and building systems consultant to selected clients. On his business trips in the Far East, he often acts as unofficial liaison to University alumni.

A trustee emeritus of Washington University, Mr. Tao serves on the National Council for the School of Engineering and Applied Science. He received a Distinguished Alumni Award in 1971, an Engineering Alumni Achievement Award in 1982, and the William Greenleaf Eliot Society Annual Search Award in 1990. Mr. Tao has received numerous additional honors for his professional achievements, humanitarian work, and community service.

He and his wife, Anne, reside in St. Louis; they have three sons and six grandchildren.